Settled Into the Mug Half-Empty
by Kalcifier
Summary: Chihiro enjoys her job at the coffee shop, but it would be a lot easier on her if certain attractive girls would stop coming by. Especially if they have the audacity to already be in relationships. When did her life become a bad YA novel?
1. Chapter 1

Chihiro had to admit, she might have had terrible fanfic tropes in mind when she took a job at the coffee shop. It wasn't her main reason or anything. She really did need the money, and when Mondo said his workplace was hiring it sounded better than having to deal with strangers possibly misgendering her. But there was a chance that she'd spent her first few days daydreaming about an attractive customer flirting with her and starting a whirlwind romance.

And it wasn't like she hadn't had any attractive customers. Really, the school had a statistically improbable number of drop dead gorgeous students, even discounting the actual supermodel. But the only person who'd shown any interest in her so far was some creep who flirted with anything with a skirt and was constantly combing his hair. She'd made Mondo deal with him after that.

Weird wannabe chefs aside, it was far from the worst job she could imagine. The customers were mostly decent, and tended to tip well for broke college students. Her boss, Mr Kirigiri, was pretty relaxed as long as no one complained about the service. And she got to take home free baked goods, which was amazing, even if they were slightly stale.

And besides, when it was slow she got to hang out with her friends. For instance, she and Mondo were currently standing at the back of the room engaged in a very serious conversation. "Puns just aren't funny," Mondo was saying. "Like, good job, you found a word that has more than one meaning. Whoop-di-fucking-doo."

Chihiro frowns. "It's the element of surprise, I think. Puns are easy to work into a conversation unexpectedly."

"That's not a good thing," Mondo says. "I don't need to be ambushed by a goddamn pun when I just want to know how when my next class is."

Chihiro is about to respond intelligently when a customer walks through the door. Her well-crafted, pun-filled response is lost as she puts on her customer service mask. "I'll be over to take your order in just a second!" she says, rushing to the counter.

She's halfway there when she sees the customer for the first time, and shit, they're hot. They're clearly an athlete, judging by their arms, but their face is sweet and open. This person could probably carry them across a desert and smile the whole time.

Right, customer, time to stop being creepy and actually do her job. "Sorry for the wait," Chihiro says. "What can I get for you today?"

The customer looks thoughtful for a moment, and wow, that's cute. Then they order a ridiculously sugary beverage and a donut.

Chihiro decided to push her luck a little. "And what name should I put on the cup?" she asks, despite the fact that the store is basically empty and there's no need to call it out.

"Aoi," the customer says. Chihiro writes it down dutifully. The name seems familiar; she thinks she's heard her friends mention it. If she remembers correctly, Aoi is on the swim team, but she's best known for crashing other team's meetings "to stay in shape".

Okay, yes, she is apparently some kind of fitness goddess. For a moment, Chihiro almost reconsiders her regime of spending 16 hours in front of computers each day. Then she remembers how terrible exercise is.

She makes the drink on autopilot, allowing herself to daydream a little longer. Then it's made, and she calls Aoi's name despite the fact that she's like five feet away.

Aoi bounces over to claim it. "Thanks!" she says, grinning, and Chihiro nods back. She clearly can't trust her brain, and right now she doesn't want to risk her tongue turning traitor too.

She turns to go back to her designated slacking position and sees Mondo smirking at her. Drat, had she really been that obvious? She sticks her tongue out at him, and he just laughs. "If that's how it is, you can deal with hamster guy next time he's here," she says primly.

Mondo groans, and the conversation returns to safer subjects. Chihiro can live knowing that she embarrassed herself around a total stranger, but at least they'll never see each other again.

After Aoi's twelfth visit, Chihiro finally throws dignity to the wind and texts Makoto. For someone who claims to be perfectly average, Makoto has connections like you wouldn't believe. There's no way he doesn't either know Aoi personally or know someone who does.

[[hey, do you know an aoi?]] she asks. She'd like to keep it sounding casual, if she can. Naegi probably won't mock her, but there's no guarantee Celes won't win his phone off him in a poker game or something.

[[Yeah, she's a good friend of mine!]] Makoto texts back. Of course she is; Makoto thinks everyone's a good friend. [[Why?]]

[[she's been to the coffee shop a lot recently and i was curious]] Chihiro sends, and immediately regrets it. "I was curious?" She probably sounds like a stalker. She might as well have asked for her complete schedule while she was at it.

Thankfully, Makoto doesn't comment. [[She's kind of competitive, but really nice]] he says. [[I think you'd get along well!]]

[[she's on the swim team, right?]]

[[Yeah]] There's a brief pause before his next text. [[She visits a lot of the other teams too, though. She says she wants to challenge herself]]

[[because swimming wasn't challenging enough?]]

[[Apparently. She likes hanging out with the martial artists the most, though, because that's where her girlfriend is]]

Dammit. This is just Chihiro's luck: the girl she's kind of crushing on is actually gay, but she's already in a relationship. But disappointed as she is, she knows she has to respond quickly or risk Makoto picking up on her motive for asking. [[thats cute]]

[[I know! :)]] Chihiro eyes the smiley face. Makoto almost certainly doesn't intend for it to be mocking, but she can still feel it laughing at her. [[You should try talking to her next time she's there]]

[[maybe]] Chihiro says. Then, because Makoto hasn't actually done anything wrong, [[thanks]]

[[No problem!]] Makoto says.

Chihiro flops back on her bed. This shouldn't change anything; it's not like she was ever going to work up the courage to flirt with Aoi anyway. And yet, here she is, abnormally disappointed.

She stuffs her face into a pillow. "I'd like to file a bug report for my emotions," she mumbles.

She lies there for a moment longer, then forces herself to get up. She probably has a project due at some point in the near future, so it's time to do what she does best: bury her emotions in a flurry of code.


	2. Chapter 2

One all-nighter later, Chihiro is ready to face the world again. Or rather, she's ready to collapse into her bed and sleep through the day, but she's depressingly used to the feeling. At least she got her freaking code to work.

She stumbles through her routines as best she can, and by the time she gets to work she's ingested enough caffeine to feel like a human being again.

Not that that stops her from leaning her head on the counter as soon as she gets a free moment. Even if she can't go to sleep yet, she wants pity, darn it!

She forgets for a moment that her friends are jerks. Rather than ask her how she is, Mondo just claps her on the back. "Up late changing the world again?"

She nods, or at least tries to without lifting her head. "I wasn't going to get any sleep anyway, so I wanted to get some work done."

Mondo smirks. She can't see it, but she can just tell. "Busy thinking about your girlfriend?" he asks, and what is he, five?

"Shut up," she says, because she never claimed to be any better. It's not like she doesn't know her crush is ridiculous anyway.

Mondo sighs and is quiet for a moment. She looks up, curious, but he's staring into the distance and avoiding eye contact. Wow, she thinks, they might be about to have a semi-serious conversation.

"Okay," he says. "We can both agree that crushes suck. And it looks like this girl is actually a decent person, which doesn't help. But let's face it, you wouldn't have asked her out even if she was single."

Chihiro wishes she could argue, but she's known that was true for a while now. She can't even be annoyed with him for saying it.

"So instead of worrying about a girl you've barely even spoken to, you should find someone else to obsess over. For instance, look at that guy."

He points to one of the only customers in the shop, some guy with bright red hair and too many piercings. Chihiro frowns. "They look like a douchebag."

"Oh, totally," Mondo says. "But since you won't have to interact with them, that's not an issue. And besides, they're hot."

She rolls her eyes. Mondo's taste has always been questionable, as you could tell by looking at his hair. "Oh, well then," she says.

"You see? Problem solved." Mondo actually looks pleased with himself for suggesting a solution, and she smiles despite herself. He may be unhelpful, but at least he's trying. "Anyway, I'm going to go on break. Have fun staring at strangers or whatever."

Well, it looks like they've hit their limit on feelings for the day. She lets him go without complaint. After all, he has given her something else to think about. She's not sure it's as easy as he makes it sound, but it's worth a shot.

She looks around the cafe, but no one really catches her interest. In addition to piercings guy, there's also a blond smirking at their laptop and someone with a camera taking the ultimate artsy coffee photo. She thinks she's seen both of them talking to Makoto at some point; it certainly wouldn't surprise her.

She's considering sneaking out her 3DS and trying to beat her sister's latest high score when the door chimes. The most muscular person Chihiro's ever seen walks in, and okay, apparently she has a type and it is people who could snap her in half. Good to know, she thinks distantly, trying not to stare.

Where Aoi had been lean, compressed power, this person exudes strength. At the same time, they seem completely aware of their surroundings, gracefully navigating to the counter. "Good afternoon," they say. "I don't suppose you carry protein coffee?"

Chihiro shakes her head. "I'm sorry," she manages.

"Very well," the stranger says. "In that case, I'll just have water, please."

Chihiro nods. She doesn't understand people who come to a coffee shop and just get water, but somehow she can't imagine this person getting a fancy coffee concoction. Maybe she should try to convince Mr Kirigiri to carry protein...

Damn, she's doing it again. She doesn't even know this person's name, she shouldn't be trying to get them to come back. Stop being creepy, she tells herself.

This effort lasts as long as it takes to bring the stranger their water. They smile at her, and wow, they're beautiful in a way she didn't expect. "Thank you," they say.

Chihiro squeaks something about it being her pleasure and retreats to the counter to scream. Internally, of course; there's a strict no screaming policy after one of her coworkers tried to institute a death metal hour. But she's screaming in spirit, as she's sure to inform Mondo when he gets back.

"Aren't we all," he says.

She's already mentally composing her text to Makoto. She knows that she's going to give in and do it eventually, she might as well get it over with.

The minute her shift is over, she grabs her phone. [so the most strongest person ever came to the shop today] she sends. Hopefully he'll take her enthusiasm as admiration, which is is, and nothing more.

A few minutes later, she gets back, [Did they have long white hair?] Makoto's weird social magnetism has once again pulled through, it seems.

[yea] she says.

[Oh that's Sakura! :)] he says. She's always slightly impressed by the way he uses smileys without a hint of irony. [She's actually Aoi's girlfriend, the one I was telling you about earlier]

Chihiro almost walks into a lamppost. Okay, she thinks, maybe she should stop texting until she's actually home and can hit her head against a wall in peace.

Not that this stops her from dwelling on this revelation. Seriously, what are the odds? It's not like it's a particularly small campus. There have got to be a lot of strong athletic girls who like coffee. Any of them could have walked through the door and let her develop a crush on them. It would have been easy to fantasize a little, knowing it would never go anywhere.

But no, this is Chihiro, so of course it couldn't be that easy. Of course she's into two girls who are not only not single, they're dating each other. Of course the one time the girls she's interested in aren't straight, this happens. She'd be amused if it wasn't so frustrating.

But now that she is home, her exhaustion reasserts itself. As much as she'd like to keep dwelling, her body makes it clear that she won't be able to. She drags herself to her bed and falls asleep almost immediately.

She dreams of smiles and water and gentle strength.


	3. Chapter 3

After crashing (and probably messing up her sleep schedule even further, but it's college, so what is circadian rhythm anyway), Chihiro feels much better about her situation. It's still absolute bullshit, of course, but it feels much less personal. It's less that the universe has a vendetta against her and more that her taste is kind of questionable.

But whatever, she's got this, she's ready to face the world like a functional human being. She's going to eat salads and go to sleep at reasonable times and rise above unfortunate love triangle bullshit.

This resolution lasts about three hours, at which point she has work again and realizes she's still too bitter about the situation to make it stick. But that's okay, it's not like emotional stability is a requirement for working at the shop. They're on a college campus, after all. That would cost them all their employees.

Chihiro is still considering how the shop attracts such a variety of people, employees and otherwise, when she arrives. She promptly fixes herself some ridiculous concoction that's like 60% sugar and milk but somehow still tastes amazing, shown to her by Sayaka a while back. Given who Sayaka is as a person, it's probably based on some Starbucks drink, but still. (She loves Sayaka as a person, but her tastes are the epitome of mainstream. Of course, Chihiro is also friends with Makoto, so it's not like she cares about that.)

She sips at her drink in between customers, and it's one of the only things that makes the day bearable. It's one of the rare days that she doesn't share a shift with Mondo, and those always suck. She's sure Ibuki is nice enough, but Ibuki can be intense and Chihiro is most definitely not. Somehow Ibuki has yet to realize this fact.

But as long as she stays at the counter and ignores the questionable sounds coming from the drink machines, she'll be fine. Ibuki can stick whatever she wants in the blender as long as she cleans up after herself.

She manages to maintain her casual attitude until Aoi comes in. Chihiro has to stop herself from glaring at the poor girl. It's not like it's Aoi's fault that Chihiro's heart has no sense of timing or propriety or anything but how to make Chihiro as uncomfortable as possible.

"Your usual?" she asks after a moment, hoping the silence wasn't as long as it felt.

"Yup!" Aoi says cheerfully. Chihiro looks down at her register, because she doesn't know what kind of face she's making but it probably isn't casual.

Once she's got herself back into a semblance of normal again, a skill honed from long customer service shifts, she looks up again. "That will be $9.12," she says, already reaching to get Aoi's donut.

She hands Aoi the bag, then takes her money. That would be it, on a normal day, but today is anything but so Aoi puts a five-dollar bill in the tip jar. Chihiro blinks. "Well, you're always so nice when you take my order and stuff, and I just wanted to make you smile, because, you know, you make me smile and I'll just go wait for my drink."

Aoi is gone before Chihiro can come up with a reply. She's sure there are a lot of things she could be feeling, but at the moment she's mostly just baffled. It's probably not worth pushing it, she decides. Down that road lies suffering, which leads to hate, which leads to something else bad, probably. The point is that she's not going to risk becoming Kylo Ren.

She lets Ibuki handle making Aoi's drink and giving it to her, and most definitely does not look to see if Aoi is disappointed about this fact. She is a good employee who does not glance in Aoi's direction more than twice a minute. Besides, it's not like Aoi is looking back. She's staring into her cup like it holds the secrets of the universe, and Chihiro is okay with that.

Then the afternoon rush hits, and Chihiro is caught up in actually doing things. The next time she looks, Aoi is gone, which might be for the best. Some of the other regulars have shown up, and Chihiro can actually manage to exchange more than a sentence with some of them. She likes to think that she's tricked them into thinking she's cool. (Given that her competition includes that guy who insists on wearing a jumpsuit everywhere, she figures her chances are actually pretty good.)

She's nearing the end of her shift when Sakura walks through the door. After approximately five seconds of internal debate, Chihiro goes to greet her. As funny as it might be to watch her attempt to deal with Ibuki, Chihiro wants to redeem herself from her complete failure with Aoi.

"Welcome to Hope's Tea, how can I help you today?" she asks. She doesn't actually say it that often anymore, especially not to people she's seen before, but customer service skills are occasionally a good fallback when she fails to have any social skills.

"I'd like to try a green tea latte, please," Sakura says.

Chihiro's eyebrows shoot up. "S-Sure!"

She doesn't actually comment on her choice of drink, but Sakura explains anyway. "I wanted to try something new, and my girlfriend told me you make excellent drinks."

"Well, um, thank you! Or thank her, I guess. Um. That will be $4.24, please."

Chihiro manages to shut up for the rest of the transaction, though her mind is racing. She knows that the "you" Aoi had mentioned is probably just the coffee shop, but that doesn't stop her from making the drink herself. Ibuki looks at her strangely, then tells her that "Ibuki is happy to give up her station if it helps you get with that goddess over there! Ah, the wonders of young love!"

Right. Chihiro isn't going to think about that too hard. She is going to spend the rest of her life worrying that Sakura heard it, but it can just join the stack of lifelong worries. At least Ibuki doesn't seem to be expecting a response.

When the drink is ready, she calls Sakura's name, trying to ignore the way Ibuki is eagerly watching them. It isn't long before Sakura appears by the counter, and Chihiro has to force herself not to jump. For someone so physically intimidating, Sakura can move with incredible grace. They'd make quite a pair, given Chihiro's size and ability to bump into inanimate objects apparently five feet out of her way.

But they're not going to be a pair, except in the sense of customer and employee. And that's fine.

Sakura takes a sip of her drink before she leaves the counter, which gives Chihiro something to focus on other than weird domestic fantasies. She tried to make the drink less sweet than usual, based on what she'd seen of Sakura's tastes so far. Not that she was watching or anything, at least no more than she watched all the customers when she was bored. She just happened to notice that Sakura mostly drank simple things like water or plain tea.

She's gratified to see Sakura's eyes widen, just a fraction. She smiles at Chihiro. "I must admit, when I heard Aoi praise your creations, I imagined they were pure sugar. But I find this quite enjoyable. Thank you. I will know better than to doubt you next time."

She goes back to her table without waiting for a response. Chihiro blinks rapidly. Today may be the most words she'd ever exchanged with Sakura, between taking her order and now. Not only that, Sakura had complimented her specifically! And on the same day as Aoi complimenting her, however awkwardly.

It was amazing, it was a dream come true, and she ended up clocking out early because it was a bit too much. She was ready to hide in her room and let her systems cool down before she exploded. Who know, maybe next time she'd actually manage to say words back when she was spoken to.

Ibuki had probably commented on Chihiro's goofy grin as she walked out, but Chihiro didn't care. At this rate, she might have an actual conversation with the objects of her affections by the time she graduated.


	4. Chapter 4

Things had been going well recently, which should have been the first sign of trouble.

Chihiro had been managing small talk with both Aoi and Sakura over the last few days, with actual social graces and everything. Admittedly, they were always the ones to initiate, but it was still something – namely, listening to Aoi talk about whatever she'd just been doing and exchanging pleasantries and meaningful nods with Sakura.

She'd actually thought she had things under control. She was hoping to maybe befriend them, both because they were genuinely cool people who she wanted to spend more time around and because she loved suffering. She wasn't quite sure why they were bothering to keep interacting with her, but it wasn't like she was going to question it. Maybe it was that irresistible sarcastic programmer charm.

They point was, everything had been good, even if Mondo teased her mercilessly any time either of them came to the shop.

Then everything changed when they came in at the same time. Apparently Chihiro had been deluding herself to think that they might have any interest in her other than as a minor acquaintance. Because now she sees them interacting with each other, and wow, they're obviously made for each other.

She can't even blame them, because they're fricking adorable together. They're sitting across the table from each other and somehow their body language still reads like they're cuddling. And then Aoi says something that makes Sakura laugh, and Chihiro practically melts into a puddle of romantically frustrated goo. Why are they both so beautiful?

She only realizes she's been staring when Mondo nudges her arm, holding up their respective drinks. Shit, right, she was supposed to be working. But how is she expected to be productive when the human equivalent of those hand-holding otters are sitting across the room?

She calls out both of their names, and then is far too relieved when Sakura's the only one who comes over. She hands over the drinks, and because she isn't in enough pain yet, decides to open her mouth. "You two are really cute together! Congratulations."

She's sure she's bright red, but she forces herself to keep looking in at least the general direction of Sakura's face. At least she doesn't seem offended. Really, she seems more surprised than anything, though she might actually be smiling a little.

Oh good, she's finally realized how terrible Chihiro is at this "human interaction" thing. At least she has the grace not to comment. "Thank you," she says instead. She stands there for a moment longer, apparently thinking, but leaves without saying anything else.

Chihiro is ready to hide behind the counter until they leave, but she'd like to think she's slightly more mature than that. Besides, she might as well watch while she can. This is prime domestic fantasy material, and who knows when they'll come in together again?

She looks over just in time to catch Aoi looking at her, and promptly panics and ducks under the counter. Which won't help her any next time either of them come in, but that's a problem for the future. Right now all she can do is hope that it's a coincidence and that Sakura didn't actually relay her comment. If she did, she might have to quit her job and live out the rest of her days in her room.

Her plans for a system to attend lectures via Skype are rudely interrupted by the sounds of someone walking toward the counter. She looks at Mondo, silently begging him to handle it, but he just gives her a thumbs up and starts cleaning the blenders. She can't believe he'd betray her like this, just because she may have given his number to that one customer as payback for teasing her about her ill-timed crushes.

Wow, now that she thinks about it their friendship is like 50% a cycle of petty revenge.

The point is that she's forced to stand up and act like a rational adult who had a perfectly good reason for being under the counter.

Then she sees who it was who came over, and realizes it doesn't matter what she'd been doing because she's about to make a fool of herself anyway. Does she ever do anything else around Aoi? No, of course not, that would be asking too much.

She's so busy trying to maintain her smile despite her internal freakout that it takes her a moment to think about the fact that Aoi had already gotten her drink. So if she's at the counter again… "Oh no!" she gasps. "Did I mess up your order? I'm so sorry, I'm sure I can get you store credit or something, just give me a minute…"

She could probably have worked herself up even further, but thankfully Aoi cuts her off. "No no, you're fine! It was as good as always!" She smiles, then apparently remembers why she came over in the first place. "I was just, um… Okay, I was trying to figure out the best way to say this, but I'm just going to wing it! Right. So, I was wondering, would you want to hang out when you get off work? No pressure or anything, I don't want to be creepy, you're just really cute."

Come on brain, a detached part of Chihiro thinks. If you're going to bother me about this girl for weeks, the least you can do is help me out when the thing we've been dreaming about actually happens.

Her brain conveniently doesn't respond, which is how Chihiro ends up blurting out, "What about Sakura?" Which doesn't answer Aoi's question, so she's tries again. "I mean, no, you're not creepy, I think you're really cute too!"

She really needs to get a handle on her thoughts before she starts talking. She's running out of ways to call herself an idiot.

Fortunately, Aoi seems to be doing better at organizing her thoughts, though she's blushing heavily. "Thank you? And, well, if you want Sakura would love to come too, but we thought it might be a bit much all of a sudden? Whatever works for you, we really don't want to push you into anything."

has stopped working. Please try again later.

"Wow," she finally says. "I just – wow, okay, this is a lot to process. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to go out with you! If that's what you're asking, I mean. It's just, can we talk first? Just, like, all three of us, once I get off work."

"No problem! I mean, I know I can come on a little strong sometimes." Aoi scratches the back of her head, her smile containing a touch of self-deprecation. "We'll just wait around, then?"

"That sounds amazing," Chihiro says. "Maybe this time I'll figure out how to react to having two gorgeous women asking me out."

Aoi laughs, and it's like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. "Sounds good!"

She sprints back to her table and begins babbling excitedly to Sakura. Chihiro doesn't even pretend that she's not watching them, but when Aoi finishes her story they're both smiling, so it's probably okay.

Mondo chooses that moment to declare the blenders clean. He looks at her and raises an eyebrow, and she sticks her tongue out at him. They're going to gossip about it later, of course, but for now she's got a semi-date. She didn't even have a chance to worry about it beforehand, so she thinks she's doing pretty well. She's entitled to a little childishness.


	5. Chapter 5

At Mondo's urging, Chihiro takes five minutes off at the end of her shift. She calmly takes off her apron and walks into the back room to finish clocking out. Then she spends those five minutes screaming internally. As excited as she is, she can't shake the feeling that something's going to go horribly wrong. She's somehow fooled these amazing women into thinking that she's interesting and worth dating, but she's not convinced she can maintain that façade for a conversation longer than five minutes. Not when they're both so strong, and she's just not.

Her phone timer goes off, reminding her that her shift is now officially over. She takes a deep breath. Okay, she's going to be fine. Even if this goes terribly, she'll be no worse off than she was at the beginning of the day. Unless she screws up badly enough to scare both Aoi and Sakura away from the shop forever.

No, she's got this. It will be good.

She pulls herself together as best she can and heads back to the front of the store.

Aoi and Sakura are still at the same table they'd been at earlier, though there is now a third chair sitting conspicuously empty. Which suggests that they haven't changed their minds in the last hour, at least, so that's something.

Aoi looks up and smiles when she sees Chihiro, and Chihiro smiles back before she can remember to be self-conscious. Aoi's obvious excitement is infectious.

"Hey!" Aoi's leg, which was already bouncing under the table, starts moving even faster.

"Oh good, you're here! Come on, sit down!"

Chihiro does so, perching in the third chair tentatively. "So, uh," she says. "I'm really not complaining, trust me, but I wanted to make sure you were both okay with this? Like, your relationship already seems so perfect, and I don't want to intrude…"

"You are not intruding on anything." Sakura reaches for her drink. "We're inviting you in."

"Yeah!" Aoi says. "We've both talked about it, and we definitely want you here. It's like when Sakura was dating Kenichiro, you know? I never actually met him, but Sakura really liked him, so I was just happy she was happy."

"Well, it's not quite the same. We are both interested in dating Chihiro, if she'll have us." Sakura smiles at Chihiro, and wow, she understands that cliché about hearts skipping beats much better now.

"Absolutely," she blurts. "Of course." She's dimly aware that she probably looks silly, that she's smiling too much and not putting her thoughts together quite right. She can't bring herself to care, though. She keeps looking up and seeing Aoi and Sakura looking at her the way she knows she looks at them, and she can't help herself.

"Great!" Aoi looks like she wants to jump up and cheer, but restricts herself to pumping her fist. It probably shouldn't be as endearing as Chihiro finds it. "So, how do you want to do this? I mean, we're kind of springing this on you."

Chihiro hums thoughtfully. She'd been so busy freaking out over this moment, she'd somehow failed to consider what would happen next. "I mean, I guess we should exchange numbers? That does seem to be what people do."

Sakura looks like she knows that Chihiro's avoiding the real question, but thankfully doesn't seem too concerned. Aoi just says, "Okay!" She fishes her phone out of her pocket and thrusts it at Chihiro. "Here, add yourself as a contact."

The three of them go through the dance of punching their numbers and email addresses into each other's phones. When Chihiro gets hers back, she sees that Aoi's already started a group chat for the three of them and changed the name to "Adorable Girlfriends." Chihiro is reasonably sure that she doesn't squeak when she sees it, but it's a near thing.

Sakura shakes her head when she notices it. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I hardly think I can be considered adorable."

"Nope, you don't get to get away with that! You're definitely adorable." Aoi turns to Chihiro. "Come on, back me up."

"I'm afraid she's right," Chihiro says faux-apologetically. "It is my well-reasoned scientific opinion that you are freaking adorable."

Sakura leans back in her chair, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. "I can see that I'm outnumbered," she says once she's calmed down a little. "Very well, I'll concede the point."

"Good." Aoi bounces in her seat, looking very pleased with herself. "See, Chihiro? You're already making things better by being here. Maybe next we can even convince her how awesome donuts are."

Chihiro goes bright red at how casually Aoi is able to address her fears. Aoi doesn't seem to notice, continuing to chatter about how delicious donuts are and how she doesn't understand why Sakura doesn't get them every time they come to the shop. It's kind of funny, the way she'll bounce between surprising insight and cheerful obliviousness.

Chihiro can't believe that she's managed to charm this amazing woman. For that matter, she's also somehow impressed Sakura, who is just incredible, and even both of them at the same time. She's still not sure how she managed it.

She makes eye contact with Sakura across the table, who smiles as if she can tell what Chihiro's thinking. Then she goes back to giving Aoi's monologue the serious consideration it deserves.

Sitting between them, Chihiro finds that she can actually believe Aoi, at least for the moment. Maybe she does have a place here. She's still not sure how, but she's stumbled into something better than she could have hoped for, and maybe it will all work out.

She shoves all maybes out of her mind and leans in to join the debate about the merits of various sports anime.

* * *

I hope you have enjoyed this shameless fluff! I don't know quite what happened to Kenishiro, so I'm going to follow the time-honored DR tradition and say that maybe he exploded.


End file.
